2019 Kootenay Rat Raid Recap
The 17th annual Kootenay Rat Raid definitely had its weather challenges but we managed to still have such a fantastic time! This group just keeps getting better and better each year and that is equally part of the long timers that keep coming back and the new people injecting new personalities in to our weekend! I personally enjoy each and every one of you.
We had a few planned events throughout the weekend. We brought back the photography on the Friday group ride including the 31A and the Slocan Loop. Speical thanks to David Mitchell for taking the lead on this ride. By far the largest group we have sent out on this ride at about 45 and Liam decided to return to the haripin from last year but from a different angle. Later in the afternoon we held a private screening of the movie Road where the room went silent or gasped a few times throughout as we learned about the deadly history of 2 generations of Dunlop brothers and TT racing. On Saturday we had 2 planned group rides go out which included one trail riding thanks to Aaron at MainJet and one on road thanks to local participant Randy. Again everyone seemed to have a great time!
The Show 'n Shine was a huge success. Some really amazing bikes won awards.
The banquet, dinner as usual was fantastic. The Adventure always does such a great job with everything they do for us. Before dinner we thanked our sponsors and raised a glass in memory of two of our own who passed away over the year. Micky Brown was a long time Raid attendee who was last out at our event in 2016 when his amazing wife Heather designed our event logo. Micky passed away a couple months before our event and we sent all of our love to Heather during this difficult time. Chris Mackie then helped me honour our friend and former Raid Captain Paul England who lost his battle with cancer. Paul ran the Raid for 4 years before handing it over to me, then came back a couple more years. The last 2 years he ran the event and the last 2 years he attended, he did so on his BMW. I remember relentlessly teasing him about not bringing a Triumph. I am also often asked if we could somehow recognize our non-Triumph riding friends in the Show 'n Shine. I felt that it was only appropriate that the Paul England Memorial Award be created to forever honour Paul for his efforts with our event and be a means to recognize our non-Triumph friends who come. The first year for this award was appropriately presented to one of Paul's long time friends, James Baldo.
Once everyone had had enough to eat, we were off to give away a bunch of swag sent to us by Triumph Canada and a few goodies from sponsors and Strath Moto. The room was full of positive energy. We recognized our "every year" attendees which we are down to 3 (Bryan Noble, Steve Murrell and Tall Bill), we thanked our "first timers" for coming out which seemed to be about a third of the room! Once we finished handing out the Show 'n Shine trophies, we drew for the 50/50 which was over $575 to the winner.
We all need to thank our partners and sponsors in this event. Without their support, the Raid as a whole would be very scaled back. So in no particular order:
Website is now updated with next year’s dates with the registration form to be added soon. The new 2019 gallery of pictures will be up soon so please check back.
Until next year, ride safe!
Cheers,
Liane
Raid Captain
We had a few planned events throughout the weekend. We brought back the photography on the Friday group ride including the 31A and the Slocan Loop. Speical thanks to David Mitchell for taking the lead on this ride. By far the largest group we have sent out on this ride at about 45 and Liam decided to return to the haripin from last year but from a different angle. Later in the afternoon we held a private screening of the movie Road where the room went silent or gasped a few times throughout as we learned about the deadly history of 2 generations of Dunlop brothers and TT racing. On Saturday we had 2 planned group rides go out which included one trail riding thanks to Aaron at MainJet and one on road thanks to local participant Randy. Again everyone seemed to have a great time!
The Show 'n Shine was a huge success. Some really amazing bikes won awards.
- Best Sport/Sport Touring - Kathy Osterland - Speed Triple
- Best Dual - Ellis Barrows - Scrambler
- Best Modern Cruiser - Lance Pare - Rocket III
- Best Modern Classic - Lou Haymond - Bonneville Custom
- Best Overall - Warren Cummings - America with side car
- Adventure Staff Choice - David Mitchell - Tier 800 XC
- Paul England Memorial Award (new this year) - James Baldo - Indian
- Furthest Travelled - Jay Norman who took a 1873 km motorcycle detour from BC, down to the states and back up through Alberta!
- Oldest Triumph - Lark Hawk - 1967 T-100R Daytona
The banquet, dinner as usual was fantastic. The Adventure always does such a great job with everything they do for us. Before dinner we thanked our sponsors and raised a glass in memory of two of our own who passed away over the year. Micky Brown was a long time Raid attendee who was last out at our event in 2016 when his amazing wife Heather designed our event logo. Micky passed away a couple months before our event and we sent all of our love to Heather during this difficult time. Chris Mackie then helped me honour our friend and former Raid Captain Paul England who lost his battle with cancer. Paul ran the Raid for 4 years before handing it over to me, then came back a couple more years. The last 2 years he ran the event and the last 2 years he attended, he did so on his BMW. I remember relentlessly teasing him about not bringing a Triumph. I am also often asked if we could somehow recognize our non-Triumph riding friends in the Show 'n Shine. I felt that it was only appropriate that the Paul England Memorial Award be created to forever honour Paul for his efforts with our event and be a means to recognize our non-Triumph friends who come. The first year for this award was appropriately presented to one of Paul's long time friends, James Baldo.
Once everyone had had enough to eat, we were off to give away a bunch of swag sent to us by Triumph Canada and a few goodies from sponsors and Strath Moto. The room was full of positive energy. We recognized our "every year" attendees which we are down to 3 (Bryan Noble, Steve Murrell and Tall Bill), we thanked our "first timers" for coming out which seemed to be about a third of the room! Once we finished handing out the Show 'n Shine trophies, we drew for the 50/50 which was over $575 to the winner.
We all need to thank our partners and sponsors in this event. Without their support, the Raid as a whole would be very scaled back. So in no particular order:
- The Adventure Hotel (Nelson, BC) - for your 17th year in supporting and helping to host this event. Rob, Robbie, Graham, Glenn, Chef Kent, Rhonda and all the staff at the Adventure, you go above and beyond every year with help and stellar service for our group.
- Triumph Canada - Chris Ellis thank you for your continued support and sending us so much stuff to give away! We all more than appreciate the support from the brand we all love.
- Blackfoot Motosports (Calgary, AB) - thank you for all you do to promote and organizing a ride out with a bunch of new attendees!
- Bentley Motorrad (Kelowna, BC) - Never ceases to amaze me that when I send out the sponsor letters, Dave is usually the first to respond. Your continued support of this event has not gone unnoticed and is so much appreciated. We hope to see you back out at the Raid in the future!
- Island Motorcycle Company (Victoria, BC) - Mike Backen and his wife were able to join us as we welcomed back our island Triumph dealership, formerly Savage Cycle!
- Alarmtron (Vancouver, BC) - James Baldo stepped up this year to sponsor the event through his alarm company based out of Vancouver. Please consider him for your needs should you require home/business security systems.
- The Hume Hotel (Nelson, BC) - not just a favorite breakfast stop for our attendees, but also a great place to stay. Ryan, we appreciate your continued support of our event in your second year of sponsoring.
- Montgomery Distillery (Missoula, MT) - Ryan, god bless you for coming on board and coming back again!
- Tribute Boardshop (Nelson, BC) - So happy to have Shane come with us on our Friday ride this year! Until next year!
- Grover Law Firm (Alberta) - we welcomed first time sponsor Steve Grover to the family. Steve's firm has quickly become Alberta's go to for motorcycle related injury claims. As a long time rider himself with a fleet of his own, Steve is heavily involved in many motorcycle related events and associations.
- Liam Rathgeber (Calgary, AB) - Your continued support of this event through photography does not go unnoticed. You are the reason so many of us have great memories to hold on to. The idea to shoot on the 31A has remained a success. The time lapse footage from the Thursday arrival each year was pure genius and so fun to watch! I look forward to working with you next year on making this event even better.
- Volunteers - Big thanks from me to all who stepped forward to help with the event. Again, Denita for all her help at registration and Samantha Mitchell for stepping in Thursday on our busy registration day! Aaron and Randy for the Saturday trail/road group rides! Everyone who helped set up and tear down the tent and hauled boxes and water in and out of the storage room. Gina for her help setting up the banquet. Denita for helping me sell 50/50 tickets. Sue, Liam and Bob for their efforts in the Show 'n Shine judging. Edwin for his design of this year's logo which was a huge success and fan favorite once again! And anyone I missed and I am so sorry if I did.
Website is now updated with next year’s dates with the registration form to be added soon. The new 2019 gallery of pictures will be up soon so please check back.
Until next year, ride safe!
Cheers,
Liane
Raid Captain
